Nursing Our Movement Back To Health
I was always taught to pay attention to nurses and follow their directions. That
advice, always sound in health care settings, is gaining wider application as a
prescription for the labor movement as well. The
California Nurses
Association, a 65,000 member independent union, was
in the
vanguard of a mass mobilization that defeated antilabor ballot
measures proposed by Governor Schwarzenegger. The gov once boasted that he
kicked nurses’ butts but while CNA was holding rowdy victory parties Tuesday
night he was whimpering like a girly-boy. Apparently having his fill of
confrontations with this small but troublesome union Schwarzenegger also this
week withdrew his court challenge to nurse/patient ratio laws that CNA had
succeeded in getting through the California legislature a couple of years ago.

While most
unions are shrinking CNA has won substantial organizing victories in California
and has spun off the
National Nurses Organizing Committee that has already had some
impressive successes east of the Golden State. Their political achievements have
not come through wining and dining politicians; their strength is membership
mobilization, often in the streets. They are also firm backers of the
Labor Party.
And they are not afraid to campaign for the only real solution to the crisis
associated with their industry–they helped develop the Labor Party
Just Health
Care single-payer plan. Oh yeah, they also
found a way to send 170 volunteer nurses
to help hurricane victims in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

Yes, our sick
labor movement would do well to pay attention to the nurses.

Another California Victory
One of our readers passed along this report on a win by SEIU at Sutter’s
California Pacific Medical Center in the Bay Area,

WE WON! WE
WON!

After nine
weeks on the picket lines at the California, Pacific and Davies campuses of
Sutter CPMC, and shy just three days from also striking at St Luke’s Hospital,
striking caregivers ratified a new contract by a resounding 97 percent! Thanks
to the dedication and commitment of our bargaining team, we were able to reach
an agreement after several days of lengthy negotiations. We were also successful
in ratifying a new contract at St. Luke’s and averting what would have been a
certain strike. Special thanks, however, go to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi who
was a catalyst in getting the union and Sutter CPMC back to the bargaining
table. She spent 13-hours straight last weekend, meeting with Martin Brotman,
CPMC CEO and Sal Rosselli, UHW President, to work out prevailing issues that
would ultimately bring us back to the table. Congresswoman Pelosi also appointed
Lou Giraudo, a highly respected local businessman and owner of Boudin Bakery, to
serve as facilitator and mediator during the negotiations.

During a time
when the discussions at the bargaining table could have been emotionally charged
and tense, the atmosphere was amicable and respectful. And, when it was
announced that a tentative agreement had been reached, followed by the
overwhelming ratification vote, cheers, tears of joy and gleeful exuberance was
experience by all.

At a press
conference on Friday, which drew nearly every television, print and radio
station in San Francisco and surrounding areas, the public announcement of the
strike settlement was headline news. Individual interviews with union leaders,
caregivers and even a CPMC spokesperson who was in the audience, captured the
joy and satisfaction that the strike was over, a good contract was won, and that
caregivers look forward to returning to the workplace.

A million
thanks are extended to everyone who worked hard over the past nine weeks and who
helped make our victory possible. The striking caregivers, healthcare workers
from other facilities, elected officials, community leaders, the clergy, other
unions, labor advocates and members of the general community are to be
especially thanked for their unwavering commitment, absolute dedication and
unrelenting support. You all helped us achieve a most wonderful and historic
victory.

VICTORY!

Jeans With Justice
Levi Strauss contracts out its jeans production in fifty countries, including 33
plants in Mexico. They claim to be an ethical company and recently scolded one
of their vassals, Lajat’s Gomez Palacio plant, for using police and thugs to try
to repress worker efforts to form a legitimate independent union. Lajat’s next
move was to lock the workers out. The
Coalition For Justice In The Maquiladoras is organizing
solidarity north of the border by pressuring Levi to lean on Lajat to reopen the
plant and allow the workers to have a union of their choice. In the Kansas City
area the
Cross Border Network for Justice and Solidarity plans to leaflet
holiday shoppers about the Jeans With Justice campaign. If you can help out send
a message to Judy Ancel at: jancel@igc.org.

Good Morning Troy, New York
I had the unexpected pleasure of being interviewed by Greg Giorgio, on his
monthly The Labor Show, WRPI , 91.5 FM, Troy, New York Someone had
forwarded Greg my recent article on the crisis at
GM/Delphi. The station streams live audio on the Internet but, unfortunately,
does not maintain an online archive of shows.

A lot is going
on on the GM/Delphi front. Dozens of local officers and rank-and-filers met at
the UAW Local 1231 hall in Comstock Park, Michigan last weekend to discuss fight
back plans; six unions formed an emergency coalition, Mobilizing@Delphi; the
International Metalworkers Federation pledged to support the U.S. unions; 39
percent voted against the UAW health care give-backs to General Motors; and the
Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) declared they would give zero concessions to Delphi
on their turf.

Managed Care Knows No Borders
Twenty thousand California workers and their families are in employer health
care plans, including Blue Shield, that require them to get nonemergency care in
Tijuana, Mexico.

But Border Closed to Award Winning
Scientist
Vicente Verez-Bencomo was the lead scientist on a Cuban team that helped develop
a low-cost synthetic vaccine that prevents meningitis and pneumonia in small
children. Natural vaccine produced by big drug companies was far too expensive
for most Third World countries–where 700,000 children were dying each year
without it. The Cuban invention, much more affordable, could eventually prevent
millions of deaths. Verez-Bencomo was scheduled to receive a prize for this
life-saving breakthrough from the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose,
California and was also slated to address the Society for Glycobiology in
Boston. But he never made it. The U.S. government denied him a visa. The State
Department said it has a policy prohibiting comment on individual visa cases.

Belt Tightening in Italy
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's coalition government has proposed a 35 per
cent cut to state funding for the arts. In protest, performers at the legendary
La Scala opera house in Milan have gone on a hunger strike, consuming only
coffee and juice. Star soprano Barbara Vignudelli has lost thirteen pounds.

As usual, much
of the material for this column came from stories posted on the
Daily Labor
News Digest. Check it out Monday-Saturday.